Following Jack
by badly-knitted
Summary: Everything about Torchwood is new to Tosh, but she trusts Jack to teach her everything she needs to know. Set after Tosh's section of Fragments. Written for fic promptly.


**Title:** Following Jack

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Tosh, mentions Jack and Suzie.

 **Rating:** G

 **Spoilers:** Fragments

 **Summary:** Everything about Torchwood is new to Tosh, but she trusts Jack to teach her everything she needs to know.

 **Word Count:** 670

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'Any, any, Follow my leader,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.

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 **DottyWho:** I hope yours has cheese in it!

Thank you!

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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Everything about Torchwood is new to Tosh; it's confusing, scary, and exciting all at the same time. Being out in the real world again after her time in the UNIT prison is a heady experience in itself, at least once she manages to push past the initial feelings of agoraphobia. But it's still a bit daunting too, because she's never even visited Cardiff before, she doesn't know her way around, and she's scared of getting lost, especially once she's been introduced to the creatures that lurk in the city's sewers.

Weevils are wrinkled and ugly, their teeth sharp as razors. Tosh can't imagine having to face one alone. She's a computer expert, adept in technology, that's what she knows and is comfortable with, but Jack says she can be so much more than she thinks. She wants to believe him, but she can't see in herself what it seems he sees in her.

Nevertheless, she signed herself over to Torchwood for the next five years in exchange for her freedom. It was that or life in the tiny, unfurnished cell she'd been in for she doesn't know how long. Time lost all meaning in that place and she'd soon given up any attempt at keeping track of the passing days. There hadn't seemed any point.

Torchwood is her life now. There's a lot for her to learn, and not just about the Hub's computer system, which is apparently semi-organic, and the aliens Torchwood exists to deal with.

There's a Rift in time and space running right through Cardiff, and it's that which is responsible for all the random things and creatures that get dumped on the city from other times and other worlds, and for all she knows, maybe from other dimensions too. A lot of what falls through is alien technology, much of it broken or damaged, but some still in working order. Most of it is unknown, and some is dangerous, weapons and such, but Torchwood gathers all of it, tries to make sense of it, then stores it safely. From what Tosh has seen of the archives, that mostly means stuffing each new arrival wherever it will fit. Someone really needs to do some sorting and tidying down there, but it's doubtful that any of them will have time since she, Suzie, and Jack are the sum total of Torchwood Three's workforce.

There's more than enough work for three people, so Jack wants to get his newest recruit up to speed as fast as possible. For Tosh, that means going with him on every mission outside the Hub, no matter how trivial or dangerous. It's a steep learning curve and in those moments when sheer exhaustion gives Tosh's thoughts a distinctly whimsical slant, she decides it's like playing Follow My Leader. After all, Jack's her leader and she follows him, doing what he does, or what he tells her to.

Being thrown in at the deep end seems to be an effective method of training though, and after only three weeks her brain is fairly buzzing with all the new information it receives each day. She's even starting to enjoy weapons and combat training, though she hopes she'll never be expected to shoot anyone. Even after what she's seen so far, she's not sure she could bring herself to shoot a living creature, no matter how vicious and dangerous. Unlike Suzie, she simply doesn't have the killer instinct.

But there's one thing she's already completely certain of; Jack has her complete loyalty, not just because he rescued her and gave her this chance at a new life, doing something useful, but because of the man he is. She's seen his kindness and compassion firsthand, just as she's seen the way he hurls himself into danger with little thought for his own safety when an innocent life is at risk. Human or alien, sentient or animal, he protects those who need it, no matter what it takes, and for that alone, she knows she would follow him anywhere.

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The End


End file.
